Michelle Heyman in action.
FOOTBALL
It's been "a long two days" for Michelle Heyman.
Having won her second golden boot last season, the Canberra United striker with the striking hairdo has become one of the eight official faces of the W-League.
That meant a trip to Sydney to officially launch season five, as well as shoot a W-League promo for the ABC, which will live stream then broadcast one game per week.
The promo, which features one player from each of the eight W-League teams, was shot yesterday in the same warehouse as MasterChef is staged, but the novelty of TV stardom soon wore off for the Illawarra Stingrays product.
"It was fun at the start, for the first hour, but then we were there for 11 hours," she said of the experience.
"We walked into the warehouse and played a little bit of soccer and that was about it - and it took that long!"
Despite the laborious process, Heyman is excited to see the end result.
"I think it airs Friday, which will be pretty cool ... our first time watching will be with everyone else."
The trip to Sydney was a rare opportunity for Heyman to catch up with friends from other teams, the 24- year-old saying she didn't need a launch to get excited about the upcoming season
"I'm always excited for W-League - this is the one thing that I love; I've always had a high vibe when it's almost W-league time."
The league will have a younger look this season when it kicks off with a grand-final rematch between Canberra United and Brisbane Roar at McKellar Park on Saturday afternoon, with Heyman one of the next generation of stars.
Seven members of last year's World Cup squad are set to miss the entire season though injury, or pregnancy in the case of Matildas skipper Melissa Barbieri and Sydney FC's Heather Garriock.
Brisbane is one of the hardest-hit teams, making do without goalkeeper Casey Dumont and key defender Kim Carroll for the entire campaign.
Also absent from the Roar's ranks for the opening weeks, including Saturday's highly anticipated opener against Canberra, will be national team stars Tameka Butt, Laura Alleway and Elise Kellond-Knight.
The latter, who will return in November following 12-months out with a knee injury, admitted it might take the Roar a couple of weeks to get up to speed.
"Obviously when the draw came out we weren't too excited about having to face Canberra first up, knowing the circumstances."
"But with that said, we've got a good squad at the moment, so Canberra watch out!"